FBI's warning of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement

Rhode Island Cops Accuse Black Man of Assault—but Video Reveals They Attacked Him First
“I just thought I was going to die that moment,” Fajardo said. “I thought I was going to lose my life.”
By David Ferguson / Raw Story
July 13, 2016




A video shown in court led a judge in Rhode Island to effectively exonerate a Providence man who was charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

According to WPRI Channel 12, Amy Kempe—Public Information Officer for the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office—announced on Tuesday that 29-year-old Esmelin Fajardo will be allowed to enter a not guilty plea on charges stemming from a violent confrontation with police last year.

Kempe said that by order of Judge Kristin Rodgers, Fajardo was “allowed to enter a not guilty plea. If he stays out of trouble, the matter is off his record.”

Last September, two Providence police officers were on duty as patrons spilled out of a Broad Street club at closing time. Fajardo says police tried to make him leave the club.

“I told him I worked there,” Fajardo said. The club belongs to his uncle. The police officer reportedly responded with indifference, ordering Fajardo to “Get the f*ck out of here.”

Accounts differ as to what happened next, but security video from the club showed Fajardo scuffling with an unnamed officer, who later claimed in court that Fajardo assaulted him. The officer punched Fajardo multiple times, hit him with a flashlight and pepper sprayed him.

“I stepped away. You can see it in the video,” said Fajardo to WPRI. “He grabbed me, punched my face, hit me with a flashlight. I was just trying to save my life.”

The officer said that Fajardo punched him with his left arm, but Fajardo pointed out that his left hand has been deformed since birth and cannot even make a fist.

“There was no way for me to make a fist,” Fajardo said. “Especially with my left hand,” which has no movable fingers.

The officer punched Fajardo in the face and head at least three times and repeatedly blasted him with pepper spray. Fajardo said that he was afraid for his life and instinctively tried to defend himself. The video shows him aiming a kick at the officer.

“I just thought I was going to die that moment,” Fajardo said. “I thought I was going to lose my life.”

“I couldn’t see or breathe after the pepper spray,” he explained. “I was scared.”

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said that other customers became involved in the melee at that point. When the officer drew his tactical baton, however, all action stopped.

Pare did not reveal the officer’s name, the specific findings of the police department’s investigation of the incident nor did he say what sort of discipline the officer faced following the attack.

“(T)he officer’s actions were scrutinized, retraining was implemented and discipline was executed,” said Pare.

Watch video about this story, embedded below:

[b]Minneapolis Officials Don't Seem to Care Whether Their Police Have Ties to White Power[/b]
Indifference comes amid open police incitement against Black Lives Matter.
By Sarah Lazare / AlterNet
July 13, 2016

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Photo Credit: Brian A Jackson/shutterstock.com

The Minneapolis police department again captured headlines over the weekend after four officers walked out of a Minnesota Lynx women’s basketball game because players wore warmup jerseys with the words "Black Lives Matter" and the names of two African Americans, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, who were recently shot to death by police. The officers, who were off duty and assisting with private security, pulled the stunt despite the fact that the shirts also included the image of the Dallas police shield in tribute to the five members of the department who were recently murdered by a sniper.

A key component of the cop protest has been completely overlooked in coverage of the outrage: The head of the Minneapolis Police Officer’s Federation who promptly commended the walkout, Bob Kroll, has been accused multiple times of overt sympathies for white supremacism, with five African-American police officers accusing him in a 2007 lawsuit of wearing a “white power” badge and having a “history of discriminatory attitudes and conduct.” Reports indicate that Kroll is part of a white power-linked motorcycle club called City Heat, which was even denounced by the Anti-Defamation League—known for collaborating with police departments across the country—because its members “have openly displayed white supremacist symbols.” Kroll’s work history is pockmarked with accusations of racist violence, including numerous lawsuits.
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Despite this troubling track record, Kroll quickly became a source for local and national outlets covering the police walkout, with most reporting failing to detail the numerous accusations against him. Kroll is quoted in numerous outlets stating, "I commend them for [the walkout]" and even insulting the team: "They only have four officers working the event because the Lynx have such a pathetic draw."

According to Nekima Levy-Pounds, civil rights attorney and president of the Minneapolis NAACP, “Many of our more widely read newspapers and news networks often go to Bob Kroll for quotes as though he is a legitimate source to speak about race relations. Rarely do they ask him questions about his alleged ties to white supremacist groups and history of excessive force against African Americans. They empower him when they give him a platform.”

More disturbingly, city officials have publicly shown little interest in investigating whether its officers have ties to white power. Asked about Kroll’s ties to City Heat, John A. Elder of the public information office of the Minneapolis Police Department told AlterNet, “We don’t make people register their hobbies.”

When pressed on whether overt ties to white supremacy should disqualify an officer from wearing a badge, Elder responded: “That’s far too wide of a question for me to answer.”

While Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges recently denounced Kroll’s “jackass remarks,” she did not address his racist history. David Prestwood, the mayor’s communications director, told AlterNet “we’re not going to comment” on the accusations against Kroll or whether the mayor’s office is conducting an investigation. When AlterNet pointed out that Hodges has already released public comment about Kroll, Prestwood stated he is “not authorized” to say anything further and suggested contacting the police department.

In response to public outrage and sustained protest over the police killing of unarmed 24-year-old Jamar Clark on Nov. 15, 2015, Kroll smeared Black Lives Matter as “terrorists” in early June. In February, St. Paul police officer Jeff Rothecker was forced to resign after he was caught encouraging drivers to run over Black Lives Matter protesters slated to gather for a Martin Luther King Day mobilization.

City Heat maintains active chapters in the Twin Cities, according to its website. The motorcycle club did not respond to a request for comment.

The inaction of Minneapolis officials dovetails with a troubling tolerance of overt police incitement against Black Lives Matter nationwide. This new normal is particularly alarming given that, according to a 2006 FBI report, white supremacist organizations have sought for decades to infiltrate police departments across the country.

A white police detective based in Detroit was recently demoted, though not fired, for calling the Black Lives Matter movement “terrorists.” The officer, Nate Weekley, wrote on Facebook: "The only racists here are the piece of **** Black Lives Matter terrorists and their supporters." Nate Weekley’s brother, Joseph Weekley, is a police officer who killed a seven-year-old black child during a raid on a residence in 2010.

The Fort Worth Police Officers Association, which represents over 1,500 officers and officials, declared on Facebook over the weekend that Black Lives Matter is "an organization that chooses to MURDER American law enforcement officers." The message was later deleted, but not before it was shared and reposted by social media users.

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen has called Black Lives Matter a “radical hate group.”

Meanwhile, police departments across the country are facing down civil rights protesters with military-grade weaponry. In Baton Rouge, where Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police while pinned to the ground, racial justice protests have been met with police bearing assault rifles, noise weapons called LRADs, tear gas and an armored personnel carrier.

Despite this blowback, protests continue to build across the country and the world. Just this morning, reports emerged that protesters had blocked a Minneapolis-area highway in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

“There has been a heightened level of derogatory rhetoric geared towards Black Lives Matter protesters and demonstrators,” said Levy-Pounds. “We’ve seen many incidents in the press where Black Lives Matter has been referred to as a terrorist organization.”

“Police are the ones who are heavily armed with both lethal and non-lethal weapons at their disposal and access to military-grade weapons and surveillance equipment,” Levy-Pounds continued. “All those tools are used to oppress some of the most marginalized groups in this country. Given that officers have been allowed to kill with impunity, we must ask question, who are the dangerous ones?"

Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare.

Police chief guilty of federal assault, excessive force
Source: Associated Press

Police chief guilty of federal assault, excessive force

Updated 4:59 pm, Thursday, July 14, 2016

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A northeastern Alabama police chief has been found guilty on charges of using excessive force and assaulting a man who was being arrested.

Local news media report that 56-year-old Stevenson Police Chief Daniel Gordon Winters was convicted Thursday. Winters was indicted in January on two counts of deprivation of civil rights under color of law.

Winters' sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 27.

Winters was found guilty of physically assaulting David Fulmer in March 2015 and failing to stop another officer from using unreasonable force. The indictment says the victim suffered bodily injuries while being arrested.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Police-chief-guilty-of-federal-assault-excessive-8378752.php